Once you understand the suffocating weight of man's capacity for evil, it's only natural to want to take a drink and forget for a while.

There's a difference between being addicted to alcohol and using it as a means to dull the pain of existing in these surreal and brutish times. You can't unsee horrific events, and you can't unlearn painful truths. Once you've been confronted with something of such magnitude, it's only natural to want a means of stifling the awful realities of contemporary existence.

American society is full of people who would label you an alcoholic. Many of them will downvote this comment, and a good number of them will go home to little, orange prescription bottles full of government approved coping methods.

As long as it doesn't impact your relationship with your family or your ability to provide for them and for yourself, do what you need to do. Do what gives you peace, and what allows you to sleep at night, despite the demons that nip at your heels and keep you awake. No one should judge you. You're a human being, and you're acting as such.